Saturday, October 3, 2009

Wow ... over 10 weeks since surgery!

My blogging pace is slowing down! I've been back to work for 2 full weeks now, so I have had NO time for updates! I have 2 major initiatives going on at work, so that on top of just being exhausted and keeping up with the family has kept all my attention lately.

Just a few quick updates. I'm still progressing well with PT (2x week) and am using anywhere from 2-5lb weights on my ankles during most exercises. I am able to do more straight leg lifts each time (even though I'm only up to doing 2 sets of 5 lying down, and can do 2 sets of 10 lying on my side). I'm also progressively putting a little more weight on my right leg as I'm crutching and have NO signs of the same pain I felt prior to surgery!

Now that I have nearly weened my self off pain meds (which was no small feat for me), I'm really feeling the twinges, pangs, muscle soreness, etc. that are going on since they are no longer masked by medication. Most of the time these things are mildly discomforting (such as the twingy pains on the outside of my right thigh as the nerves are healing, the continued mild-to-moderate hip flexor pain in the groin area). After PT though, the muscle soreness and cramping in my leg is most uncomfortable. Of course none of this compares to the blinding pain in my lower back that I have after lying in ANY position for any amount of time, or when standing too long, or sitting in too soft a chair/sofa for any length of time. I wish I knew why ... Either way, I'm not sleeping well and waking up every 1-1.5 hours unless I take a small dose of meds, then I can at least get 2-3 hours of sleep before waking up ... and even then can usually manage to fall back to sleep after that.

I've also started having pain in my right knee. I mentioned this to my PT lady and she thinks if we work on my quads a little more, this may help my knee get used to having weight on it again. With all these various pains/cramps/discomforts ... I'm still thanking my Heavenly Father that my "good" hip is NOT giving me any trouble right now!! I sure hope it stays that way -I honestly could not go through this again.

I haven't been back to church on Sunday morning in probably a month. It was just too hard to orchestrate (and hard on me mentally) to have the family pushing me around in a wheelchair. I went back yesterday, only on crutches, so that was nice. My back (and for the first time, the back of my hip) was telling me perhaps it was too much right now.

Well, I see Dr. Kregor on October 19th and will be roughly 75% weight bearing by then. Sure hope there is light at the end of the tunnel ... I want nothing more than to ditch the wheelchair, walker, hospital bed and crutches!!!! I'm worried about the bones healing though. Only xrays will show, but as of the past several days I've had some stabbing pains right where (what feels like) the screws are. I hope my tossing and turning in bed has not wiggled a screw loose!

Until next time,
Lori



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